Lisa Scarlet Ryan MA
Textile industry designer, Textile artist & community engaged artist
Her previous experience in the textiles industry, designing fibres and fabrics for the high street & branded sportswear led to designing bespoke clothing & high end commercial ladies wear. As well as being a factory operations manager, responsible for the complete process is where she developed a love for community engagement, working along side people from communities which were very deprived within the factory she ran, she realised she had a knowledge which was transferable to help these communities.
Spending the last 11 years within these communities using practical problem solving & dealing with social issues to great success through creative processes [which she has recently honed to a working methodology within her masters degree] along side a successful textile art practice in the UK, Europe and US.
Respected within the creative industries and textile industries for consistently bringing projects in on time and on budget and to spec. Something she has taken into her community engagement work.
'Lisa is a safe pair of hands, simple as that, we gave her a project, and she came back with just what we wanted, on time and worked within our team seamlessly'
Hans Varn, Nike
Her work is eclectic, the end product determined through her design process which is very experimental and spontaneous, with colour, texture & form at the forefront of her work. Award winning, large scale, abstract needle felted & embellished pieces have become a passion over the past few years,
developed through the creation of personal methodologies and processes which look into her soul & leave that part of her which is moved and inspired by the way she sees her surroundings. The concept of Meraki.
About Lisa Scarlet
canvas image from Calming Flow exhibition in residential setting
Ropeaffitti at the Burnley Mechanics, Shared Threads exhibition, for Fabrications
Lisa Scarlet & the rope tree chandeliers made with community arts group, Ground Up, on display on the straight mile embankment, Burnley
crochet & print work for the exhibition at the PR1 gallery Preston, entitled calming flow
work on a shared threads piece using threadaffiti, this piece was made in response the deaths on tower bridge.
knotting, plaiting & manipulating rope at the canal festival 2017
working with the kids at westview community centre in Fleetwood for the Tram Fest
the bistro room at the Burnley Mechanics, hosting some of the Shared Threads exhibtion
Her on going personal project, Riverside Reflections, incorporates personal observations of the local Leeds Liverpool canal & memories of the now lost Lancashire textile industry.
Lisa uses hand dyed wool roving, silks, scrims, plastics and interesting found materials to produce needle felted pieces, resins and developed a new and innovative way of manipulating plastics which she has used along with photography to create vibrant, bold, textural concepts that have eponymous use, the only limitation is imagination.
Many of these vibrant & innovative techniques are brought to the fore in her community led commissions, where she engages in conversation about community, environment, addictions, social & economic issues which affect the daily lives of residents & how arts engagement can aid in understanding & dismiss prejudice.
Recent Work
Lisa Scarlet has been chosen as Selvedge Graduate
‘Lisa was chosen for the position due to the outstanding quality of her work & amazing involvement in the Fabrications Festival. She will receive publicity & mentoring whilst being an ambassador for Selvedge & the world of contemporary textiles.’
Fiona Pattison Happy 4 PR